NWO to introduce embedding guarantee for Veni and Vidi funding

27 February 2018

NWO will ask candidates for an 'embedding guarantee' from the start of the new application rounds for Veni and Vidi funding. In other words, researchers can only submit applications for Veni and Vidi funding with the support of the institution where they intend to conduct their research. This measure stems from earlier measures announced by NWO and the agreements NWO has made with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands, the VSNU, all aimed at reducing the number of applications. It is expected to lead to fewer applications and be more consistent with the research institutions’ personnel policy. Veni and Vidi are part of the NWO Talent Scheme: individual funding for talented researchers.

The embedding guarantee for Veni and Vidi is one of the first concrete measures NWO is taking to reduce the numbers of applications. These measures are intended to help NWO to strike a better balance between the number of applications and the number of funding allocations, so that researchers do not need to spend as much time writing and assessing applications. After the first year an evaluation will take place to point out if the embedding guarantee does indeed reduce the number of applications and what the effects of this measure are for research institutions.

How does an embedding guarantee work?

When applying for Veni funding, candidates name the institution in which they plan to conduct their research. From now on, when applying for Veni funding, candidates will also have to submit an embedding guarantee. This guarantee is an expression of universities' confidence in a candidate and his or her research proposal. The embedding guarantee for Veni funding incudes a statement by the prospective institution that, if the funding is allocated, the researcher will be given the opportunity to conduct the research at the institution and to make use of all the facilities required to do so.

Candidates applying for Vidi funding are also required to name their prospective research institution. The embedding guarantee for Vidi funding will include a statement by the prospective institution, addressed to NWO, that the candidate will either be appointed as a tenure track candidate or will be offered a permanent appointment on being allocated funding. NWO will further specify the terms of the embedding guarantee for a Vidi in consultation with VSNU and the research institutions.

Commencement date

NWO will introduce the embedding guarantee with effect from the next application rounds for Veni and Vidi funding. The closing date for submitting a detailed application for the next Vidi round is October 2018 and for the Veni round, January 2019. The template for the embedding guarantee will be published on the NWO website when the calls for Veni and Vidi are opened: at the end of June and the beginning of August, respectively. As a trial, the NWO domains Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES) will introduce an advance application phase in the next Veni round. These are the only domains where the embedding guarantee will have to be produced at the same time as the advance application is submitted. All candidates for the next Veni round at SSH and TTW will have to submit a pre-proposal by 28 August 2018 at the latest.

No embedding guarantee is required for current Veni and Vidi rounds for which the submission deadline has already passed.

Large number of applications

The large number of applications, few grants awarded and the peer review assessment have become a concern in the Netherlands and abroad. Last year, NWO consulted Dutch scientists, Dutch knowledge institutions and sister institutions abroad on their experiences and possible solutions. This process led to a number of broadly accepted measures which NWO plans to introduce in order to reduce the pressure on scientists dealing with applications.

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The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funds top researchers, steers the course of Dutch science by means of research programmes and by managing the national knowledge infrastructure.